Chapter Text
Miko, she wants to call her. Miko, Miko, Miko…
But she stays quiet, for she doesn’t know how to tell her. What to tell her. That she’s going to leave her? Just like their friends? She would never speak to her again. No, she can’t do that to her beloved. Not when they’re the only two left.
But is there anything she can do to sweeten her words?
Thus, with trembling hands, she swallows the lump in her throat, eyes widely open and fixed on her lover’s back.
“… Miko?” there, now she simply has to be honest and remain calm.
“Hmm?” the fox’s ears perk with attention, and Ei darts her now unsure gaze around the dark room, trying to avoid Yae’s figure.
“I-I need to tell you something.”
It is then that Yae turns around, slowly, with unusually gentle eyes that oppose her archon’s anxious ones. They glow in the dark, providing a little source of warmth to brace for Ei’s ice-cold news.
“I think I might already know,” she says, making Ei’s cheeks burn with shame. As caring as ever, Yae lifts a hand and caresses Ei’s locked jaw to somewhat relax her worrisome goddess.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t notice?” she makes sure her tone is light-hearted, although Ei feels disappointment and resentment building up in her tired, violet eyes, their glow steadily intensifying. “I’ve seen you working on this new puppet of yours, you know. And don’t even try to say it’s another replica of Makoto. This one has your mole and all.”
The archon can’t help feeling guilty over not telling her most trusted companion about her plan, but she just didn’t expect anyone to understand her ways of doing things. Much less Yae of all people, who shared her late sister’s distaste for her concept of eternity.
She breathes in deeply before answering, “I-I know, and I won’t try to make excuses, so please—, listen to me for a bit.” Her quivering fingers take her beloved’s hands between them, almost melting at Yae’s warm skin. “I want the puppet to rule Inazuma in my stead —not permanently, of course, only until I reach eternity, then I will be completely ready for such high responsibility. Worry not, I have programmed it with the most convenient and precise orders so that everything goes as planned—”
“Do you believe it will take long?” again, it’s meant to sound patient. The suddenness of the question says otherwise, though.
“I… don’t know yet… eternity is not something I can achieve in only a few decades or centuries or even…" Her voice falters at the realisation, she hadn’t even thought about the time she would disappear.
“I don’t need a specific date, I just… need you to come back to me. However long you take, I will wait for you. I always would.” Yae whispers, and now it’s her turn to avoid her god’s gaze.
Ei’s vision waters upon hearing her fox’s confession and has the urge to sob. Instead, she brings Yae’s fingers closer to her lips and kisses her knuckles with star-filled eyes, one by one.
“I hope you can forgive me someday.”
Yae silently watches as the one she loves the most in the world weeps in front of her. Feeling her own tears forming, she embraces her closer and joins Ei in her cries.
By the time dawn had begun to break, only the thundering heart of her goddess was left behind.